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The first signs have emerged of a split among Bank of England policymakers
over when interest rates should be lifted from the record low of 0.5 per
cent.

All nine members of the Monetary Policy Committee voted in favour of keeping
rates on hold this month, but the minutes of the meeting showed that, for
some, the policy decision was becoming “more balanced”.

Jeremy Cook, chief economist at World First, said that the minutes hinted at
“future dissent” within the committee for the first time since Mark Carney
took over as governor last July. “There are definite hints that the

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Simon Ward, chief economist, Henderson Global Investors

"The Bank should start raising rates pretty soon. Given that you need to signal things, I guess that they should start to prepare the ground now and make the first quarter-point move in August.

"I disagree with their view that there is still slack in the economy, and the monetary trends that I follow are signalling that policy is too loose and will show up in inflation next year and in 2016. I would go for a quarter-point move every three months until we reached 2 per cent, and then pause and assess."

George Buckley, UK economist, Deutsche Bank

"If the economy continues to expand at the rate it is doing, then I would be in favour of a rate move towards the end of the year.

"I doubt that’s what will happen, though, because the Monetary Policy Committee is more doveish than me and I don’t think that the economy will continue to grow as fast as it has been. Even if we do get a moderation in growth, though, I still think that it would be reasonable to raise rates earlier than May next year."

Roger Bootle, managing director, Capital Economics

"I would say the second half of next year [for a rate rise]. I think the recovery is still fragile and I’m very worried about the strength of the pound. I would be very wary of raising rates early. It would potentially play havoc with the recovery. What the economy needs is a competitive and consistent value for sterling. The housing market is dysfunctional and needs to be tackled by the Bank’s other tools. If we raise rates to cool off the housing bubble, it would damage other parts of the economy."